AOA plan to increase perceived quality

I agree 100%

Why on earth would the AOA open up spots to allopathic students taking positions away from osteopathic graduates. This will do nothing but force MORE osteopathic physicians to seek ACGME residencies.
Do you think that we as students should collectively write the AOA, or have our student governments write on the behalf of our institutions??

Tell me what you think!

 

I disagree. I think that dual accreditation is the way to go. It's really a David vs Golliath situation. The ACGME is so huge that it has become in many ways *THE* benchmark for quality. The AOA needs to work cooperatively with allopathic institutions to further the interest of osteopathic students. There are simply not enough quallity internship slots to go around and with 5 states requiring AOA-approved internships for licensure, it puts DO's at a relative disadvantage in the marketplace. Also, it's my understanding that the AOA is interest mostly in dual-accrediting internships (which 5 states require for licensure), the residencies themselves will still remain solely AOA-accredited. So, those highly sought after ENT, ortho, radiology, plastic surgery, and derm slots will still exist for DO's only, but the internship slots will be available to both MDs and DOs.

 

Would the dual accreditation be retroactive? Would anyone know?

 

If it helps physicians Osteopathic physicians work in the "big 5" then I'm for it. I guess I misunderstood the situation. As long as the AOA is not opening up the residencies, then it's ok.

I still think, however that the AOA should also look into accrediting the ACGME transitional year. There are just more of them!!! Especially in the big 5 states.

 

Ending the "big 5" rule and attempting dual accreditation are the only things that keep DO graduate medical education afloat in the years to come.

 

Just curious, why would you go the DO route for any of those specialties assuming you had an option to go to an allopathic medical school?

 

Is this a reality in the coming years? Any talk of it happening? ("big 5" rule)

 

Well, I think that people discover as they progress through their education that they enjoy different things. A good friend of mine went to D.O. school because he really wanted to "be a doctor" in every sense of the world---the old Marcus Welby, rural, general practitioner type. He subsuquently fell in love with surgery on his surgery rotation, and then became very interested in plastic reconstructive surgery during an elective rotation at Ben Taub in Houston. He is now doing an osteopathic ENT residency in Philadelphia and wants to head toward plastics. He's been very active as a resident in a committee to get fellowship status granted by the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery to residency-trained osteopathic facial and plastic surgeons.


Some pertinent links to check out:

American Osteopathic Colleges of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery

PCOM's ENT Residency Program

 

What I should have said is:
2 things you will see in 10 years...
Widely expanded dual accreditation
The end of the "big 5".

 

Okay, what is the meaning of the Big 5 terminology? Please clarify.

 

The five states that require osteopathic physicians to complete an AOA-approved PGY-I rotating internship:

Michigan
Pennsylvania
Florida
Oklahoma
West Virginia

I've also heard that the New York Osteopathic Association was lobbying the New York legislature to require an AOA-approved internship for DO's, but this has not come to be...

 

I agree dual accredation is the way to go, but I think it should be the AOA going in and accrediting ACGME programs. This is unlikely to happen first.

I feel this is of benefit for those wishing to pursue sunspecialties.
If Dual accredation a surgery candidate can jump from a DO MD Surgery into a MD subspecialty with greater ease, a definite plus.

Thank you for the update

 

There are situations where ACGME programs want AOA accreditation. Large programs with prelim spots and transitional years would like AOA accreditation so that they can have larger internship classes!

--Dave